Drinking with Cyn and Brian

Because of my indifference to my lack of evening internet access, my blog has become a white note-pad. At some point I'll do a monster posting detailing my LA beer tasting. For now, I'll mention that I had a magnificent beer over the weekend: Craftsman Brewing Co.'s 1903. I didn't know what it was--tasted sort of like a dry, smooth, special bitter to me. This proved to be way off--subsequent research revealed that this remarkable beer is a pre-prohibition lager. Go figure. At any rate, there are beers that just know what they're doing and this is one. It leaps out of the glass and articulates itself. Very crisp and wonderful hopping. The crispness, I now can guess, would come from intelligent use of corn, in the pre-prohibition style. I'd really like to know what they hop with because it had a fantastic hop character. Wow.

Also had a fun beer evening with Cyn and Brian--we tasted through four of my beers (Saison, Belgian strong pale, Dubbel, and a CIPA). They liked them and I learned a few cool brewing tricks from Brian and got some suggestions. Chinook dry hopping tends to arrest people and the aroma of the CIPA hence went over well with Cynthia, who has good taste. The Dubbel also showed beautifully and smelled exceptionally Belgian. I bet my basement stock is aging really well right now--it's probably good that I'm not there to raid it. We also had Russian River's Damnation (very good), a bottle of Le Terrible (always nice), and a flamboyantly aromatic Dupont Biere du Miel, a saison brewed with, I'm guessing, massive amounts of honey. It's always particularly nice drinking with Brian as he is one of the relatively few people I know directly who know more about brewing than me--he's also really good at things like intuiting what hops are in a beer and such and I like learning stuff. I'm thinking of trying a beer he described for me that he brews, called 666. It's six lbs each of Munich, dark Vienna, and Gambrinus honey malt hopped with 4 oz of Tettnanger. Gotta ask him what yeast is best for that and maybe make that a fall beer if ale or SF lager yeast will work. Sounds like it'd hit the spot in October somehow. Could that be treated as an Altbier I wonder?

Here's a follow-up just so I don't lose the 666 info. Brian agreed with my seasonal thinking. He brewed it in early September for Halloween. Duh. . . He said this in a tone that just slightly suggested I was a little thick not to have realized it was a Halloween beer. Which is true. I think he said you do half the Tettnanger at 60 minutes and the other half at 30. Oh, and SF lager yeast works. I'm guessing my basement will be a nice 65 or so at the appropriate time--then I could keg it for a Halloween party?? Assuming I get kegging set up? Might be a good plan. . . All hail Satan and malty quasi-lagers.